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Land Without Color
Land Without Color Status: Currently Existing First Appearance: The Doctor Latest Appearance: In the Name of the Brother The Land Without Color is a world featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the fifth episode of Season 2. Plot 'Before First Curse' In the Land Without Color, two brothers, Gerhardt and Victor Frankenstein, celebrate Christmas with their father Alphonse. To each son, he gifts a present. While Gerhardt is bestowed with their mother's watch, Victor is given a commission to become an army physician. Alphonse wishes for Victor to abandon his scientific work and forces his son to do so by refusing to fund his exploits any longer or allow him to conduct experiments in the summer home. Victor angrily storms out, and Gerhardt follows, attempting to console his brother by giving him the watch, which the latter refuses to take. From behind the bushes, Rumplestiltskin, who traveled to the Land Without Color from the Enchanted Forest, watches Victor with interest and later pays the doctor a visit in his lab while he is packing up. Rumplestiltskin will allow him a way to continue scientific experiments if Victor gives him knowledge about how life is restored after death. When Victor accepts, Rumplestiltskin conjures a large pile of gold and then disappears before the doctor can introduce him to his assistant, Igor. Later that night, Victor is digging up a body in the cemetery, which he wants to use in the name of science, when Gerhardt sees him. They are both forced to flee when a graveyard guard fires at them. After seeking safety in a carriage, Victor realizes too late that Gerhardt has been shot, and his brother dies shortly after. He tries to bring him back, but Gerhardt's heart burns to a blackened crisp under the experimental strain. Alphonse walks in and upon noticing the corpse is his eldest son's, he is furious. Victor tries to explain his intentions, but Alphonse angrily proclaims that now he has no sons. In order to obtain a stronger, more powerful heart to save Gerhardt, Victor follows Rumplestiltskin's request to come to the Enchanted Forest via the Mad Hatter's hat and fake a failed resurrection of a man who a Queen named Regina loves. Once he succeeds in the task as Rumplestiltskin wanted, Victor receives the heart as a reward. When he returns to the Land Without Color, the doctor is greeted by Igor. With the heart he procured from the Enchanted Forest, Victor is now able to revive his brother. In awe, he states that this is not an act of magic, but of science. As Gerhardt is recovering, Victor shows him to Alphonse. After a brief look, his father realizes this shell of Gerhardt, who is moving and reacting strangely, is not his son at all. He once again blames Victor and goes as far as attacking him to the point Gerhardt reacts violently to the commotion by killing their father. Following the outburst, Victor locks Gerhardt in a tower room until coming to the decision he must put his resurrected brother out of his misery. Gerhardt willingly pushes the end of the barrel at his own head, but at the last moment, Victor is unable to pull the trigger and doesn't kill him. Trivia On Screen Notes= *Land Without Color is featured in the title card for "The Doctor" and "In the Name of the Brother". *Everything originating in this world appears to be filtered in black-and-white, referencing the original Frankenstein movies. However, when travelling to other realms, such as the Enchanted Forest, Victor Frankenstein gains colors. *It can be assumed that there is a door in the Mad Hatter's hat because Rumplestiltskin sends the Mad Hatter to bring Victor from one land to another. *Since we see the Frankenstein estate celebrating Christmas and Victor told Gerhardt "(his) cross to bear" when describing his military-metal, it can be assumed that Christianity or something extremely similar is present in this world. *When Rumplestiltskin visits the Land Without Color, he retains his normal coloring. *Rumplestiltskin states that there is magic in the Land Without Color, in the form of witchcraft, but is neglected and not nearly as strong as the magic in the Enchanted Forest. *This world appears to be, much like Alice's home world and Cruella De Vil's home world, a variation of the Land Without Magic, one that is based on the real-life German-speaking countries of Germany, Switzerland (the settings of the original novel), and Austria during the 19th century. This is supported by several pieces: Victor's commission letter refers to Austria, more specifically Carinthia and its capital Klagenfurt, Gerhardt's medal appears to be based on the Iron Cross, a symbol used for German military decorations, and the sign on the graveyard says "Soldatenfriedhof", which is German for "military cemetery". Victor's commission letter is also written in German. |-|Production Notes= *Show writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis stated in an interview that while writing the script, they referred to Victor Frankenstein’s world as a "land without color". *The CGI model created for the interior of Alphonse's Mansion was later recycled and reused for the Lydgate House in "Strange Case": The design of the windows, the fireplace, the doors, and the bookshelves is exactly the same.